It was evening when they arrived, and a
profound silence was over all the palace. No one met them; they
lighted their own lamps in the outer court, and passed unquestioned
through court and gallery until they came to where SHE lay. A
corpse was the only inhabitant of the palace, and the isolation
from her kind which she had sought so long was indeed complete.
That morning thirty-seven servants had watched every motion of her
eye: its spell once darkened by death, every one fled with such
plunder as they could secure. A little girl, adopted by her and
maintained for years, took her watch and some papers on which she
had set peculiar value. Neither the child nor the property were
ever seen again. Not a single thing was left in the room where she
lay dead, except the ornaments upon her person. No one had
ventured to touch these; even in death she seemed able to protect
herself. At midnight her countryman and the missionary carried her
out by torchlight to a spot in the garden that had been formerly
her favourite resort, and here they buried the self-exiled lady. -
From "THE CRESCENT AND THE CROSS," by Eliot Warburton.
Footnotes:
{1} A "compromised" person is one who has been in contact with
people or things supposed to be capable of conveying infection. As
a general rule the whole Ottoman Empire lies constantly under this
terrible ban. The "yellow flag" is the ensign of the quarantine
establishment.
{2} The narghile is a water-pipe upon the plan of the hookah, but
more gracefully fashioned; the smoke is drawn by a very long
flexible tube, that winds its snake-like way from the vase to the
lips of the beatified smoker.
{3} That is, if he stands up at all. Oriental etiquette would not
warrant his rising, unless his visitor were supposed to be at least
his equal in point of rank and station.
{4} The continual marriages of these people with the chosen
beauties of Georgia and Circassia have overpowered the original
ugliness of their Tatar ancestors.
{5} There is almost always a breeze either from the Marmora or
from the Black Sea, that passes along the course of the Bosphorus.
{6} The yashmak, you know, is not a mere semi-transparent veil,
but rather a good substantial petticoat applied to the face; it
thoroughly conceals all the features, except the eyes; the way of
withdrawing it is by pulling it down.
{7} The "pipe of tranquillity" is a tchibouque too long to be
conveniently carried on a journey; the possession of it therefore
implies that its owner is stationary, or at all events, that he is
enjoying a long repose from travel.
